Introduction

The tools the National Weather service uses include many high tech pieces of equipment such as: Dual Pol Doppler Radar, Geostationary and Polar Orbiting Satellites, radiosondes, and observational mesonets to name a few. All of these tools serve a unique purpose and help us protect lives and property. During severe weather one of the best tools is still the human being, who acts as a weather spotter and reports what is being, seen and heard.

To effectively warn for the protection of life and property, the National Weather Service must have a thorough handle on current weather conditions throughout this region. Unfortunately, long distances separate National Weather Service offices. Although weather satellites and doppler weather radar use the latest technology to provide a wealth of information to forecasters, no tool has yet been developed that can replace a human observation of the weather in a local area at a specific time.

You can help! By alerting us to significant weather events, you become the "eyes and ears" of the National Weather Service in your area and help us determine when and where we need to issue warnings. Your participation in the SKYWARNTM spotter program is entirely voluntary. You are under no obligation and cannot be compensated. However, your vigilance is valuable and greatly appreciated! It helps others and could save lives.

Role of the Weather Spotter

A weather spotter is a person who observes significant weather and relays the information to the National Weather Service (NWS) or appropriate local authority, based on the severity and immediate threat of the event observed.

Spotters provide an invaluable service to their communities and to the National Weather Service. The information they provide helps their community by assisting local public safety officials in making critical decisions aimed at protecting lives and property. During life-threatening weather events such as tornadoes and flash flooding, these real-time reports from weather spotters are used to help warn others in their community, as well as those neighboring communities which may be in harm's way.

Spotter reports also help National Weather Service forecasters in the critical decision making process of determining what storms pose a risk to lives and property. The National Weather Service uses these critical reports from storm spotters in combination with radar, satellite, and automated surface observations when issuing Severe Thunderstorm, Tornado, Flash Flood, Winter Storm, and other types of warnings. Your report becomes part of the warning decision making process, and is combined with radar data and other information and used by NWS forecasters to decide whether or not to:

In addition to being used in the warning decision making process by National Weather Service forecasters, spotter reports also provide valuable information to people in the path of a potentially deadly storm. Ground truth reports from spotters help to give credibility to the warnings issued by the National Weather Service to those people who are in the path of a potentially damaging or life-threatening storm. This ground-truth information helps motivate people in harms way to take action to protect themselves and their property.

At times, the National Weather Service may call a spotter after a storm has passed, in order to inquire what conditions were like as the storm moved through. This information helps NWS forecasters train for the next big event. Of course, spotters are always encouraged to take the initiative and call the NWS office with their information.

Overview Spotter Training Classes Provided by UCAR

The NWS in conjunction with UCAR has developed two training modules that will help current and future NWS Storm Spotters. The goal of the first module called Role of the Skywarn Spotter is to provide baseline training for all current and future spotters through multiple scenarios covering the procedures for spotting (including storm report criteria), safety considerations for all hazards, and an overview of the national program and its history.

The goal of the second training module called Skywarn Spotter Convective Basics will guide users to a basic understanding of convective storms. Through three different scenarios, you will cover reporting and proper communication of local storm reports to the National Weather Service (NWS), personal safety during these events, and field identification of convective storm hazards. After completing the scenarios, you will be given the opportunity to practice identifying storm features from a spectrum of photos.

For current spotters, these modules will help refresh your training and answer questions you may have. For prospective spotters this training will help you understand what the role of the weather spotter is, and help you understand the basics of severe weather. Completion of these modules will not make you a trained weather spotter for the NWS, but will help you when you take the training with your local NWS office. You will have register for each of these courses through the website and there is no cost.

Local Spotter Training Classes

It's time once again for spotter training! As always, the National Weather Service provides training in storm recognition and reporting procedures, so that you can be our eyes and ears in the field. Be sure to attend and help us protect your family and your community!

Here are the upcoming classes for 2015, more will be added as they become scheduled:

County

Location

Date

Time

Boyd, KY

Westwood Fire Department

Wednesday 3/18/2015

6:30 pm

Lawrence, KY

Lawrence Community Center - Louisa

Wednesday 3/25/2015

TBD

Dickenson, VA

TBD

Tuesday 3/31/2015

TBD

Perry, OH

TBD

Wednesday 4/22/2015

TBD

Charleston Skywarn

Observing and Reporting Severe Weather

SkywarnTM Contact Information

If you would like more information about the SKYWARNTM Program or you would like to become a trained Skywarn Spotter contact your local weather office and ask for the WCM. If you live in one of the 49 counties of our forecast area which includes pieces of four state (34 counties in West Virginia, 9 counties in southeast Ohio, 4 counties in northeast Kentucky, and 2 counties in extreme southwest Virginia), you will need to contact: